Just for fun lets sum up some indications of Mauresmo's ability shall we:
1)When she plays Serena playing Serena's best she regularly wins only 3 or 4 games, 6-1, 6-2 in Wimbledon semis of 2002; 6-1, 6-1 at the French Open of 2003, 6-2, 6-2 the other night. I dont know whether Mauresmo considers it her best or not, there always seems to be some excuse with her, injured, nervous, but it is consistent enough to draw some conclusion.
I know Serena is great, but shouldnt somebody who gets the hype she seems to from some tennis circles be somewhat more respectable than that under those circumstances?
2)When she plays Serena or Venus, when Venus was a dominant top few player, on a day Serena or Venus were not just not playing their best, but were struggling with their games, Mauresmo still fails to win, again regularly. 3 set loss to wild Venus in 2002 U.S open semis, 3 set loss to tenative and hesitant Serena in 2004 Wimbledon semis, 3 set loss to sloppy Serena in year-end semis.
3)Davenport has completely owned Mauresmo since Mauresmo's early success against her in 99-2000. Once Davenport figured out how to handle the high arced balls she was fine with Mauresmo. In fact she even beat Mauresmo on clay last year, straight sets no less.
4)Last year Mauresmo had two wide open opportunities to win majors, the French and U.S opens, and lost to Dementieva, a very good player, but likely one of the lesser players we will see reach two slam finals, when considering the quality of her serve.
5)Mauresmo has not even reached a slam final since her initial final at the 99 Australian. That is now 6 full years.
6)Mauresmo appears to not have the power to hit with the best power players, nor the genius of Hingis or even Henin-Hardenne, the counterpunching ability of Capriati or Dementieva, a serve and volley of that of Novotna or even Tauziat.
7)Mauresmo appears to have been overtaken not only by her veteran peers but young rising stars like the Russians, Henin, and Clijsters. I cant recall her beating any of them in a big match, just smaller matches where an inferior player is more likely to come out ahead.
Oh yes and her performance the other night sucked as well. Just my personal opinion though.
